Something is profoundly wrong with the way we think about how we should live today, posits Tony Judt, who explains that the social contract that defined postwar life in Europe and America—the guarantee of a base level of security, stability, and fairness—is no longer guaranteed, and indeed is no longer part of the common discourse. The author of Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945 (one of the New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of 2005 and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), Judt offers the language we need to address our common needs, rejecting the nihilistic individualism of the far right and the debunked socialism of the past in favor of re-enshrining fairness over mere efficiency.